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If you had a 1,000 dollars

I know that's not a lot of money but lets just pretend for a minute that you all of a sudden have an extra 1,000 dollars. Maybe you found it on the street or maybe you received it as a gift or an advance.

Now that you have the 1,000 what are you going to do with it. That's the question!

A. save it
B.pay off bills
C.spend it
D give it away


We all know we should pick A or a portion of A and B and D but how many of us really would save it or give a portion of it away say like 10%.

My first thought would be to tithe and then pay off bills. One of my biggest flaws is that I don't think to save like I should.

Soon I am going to share with you a story well it's the story of our life and in it you will see my struggle with our finances. But until then what would you do with the money?

Does this make any sense at all.,....

ok I was watching our local news and they started talking about the economy and how it was going to be harder for people to get what they need for their children for school. They talk about it is like this because of the large amount of people that have lost their jobs or have been laid off.

They went on to interview some and ask how they are going to get by this year. Some told they are looking for sales to get things at the rock bottom prices. Some were shopping at thrift stores this year. Others were going through what has been given to them. All these are great ways to get by not only this year but any time. Shop smart and use what you have on hand. Makes perfect sense to me!!!!

I was totally agreeing with the reporter and the people that she interviewed. I mean we all know how tough it is out there now and if you don't watch your finances you can really get into some trouble. With all the tricks that credit card companies are doing and all the scams out there it pays to be on top of your finances.

But that's not what I am blogging about it was what the reporter said next that just floored me. She said that our Governor was helping us out starting in September through to November if you buy a qualifying energy star appliance then you can get this tax free. Now if you are looking for to buy new appliances then this is great for you.

But here's what I don't get. How on earth is this going to help those that are struggling (us included) to get what they need for their children this year. How can this be the answer for them. How can going out and spending 2 or more thousands of dollars help us when we can shop sales,buy from thrift stores and make do with what we have and spend hundreds less than we were before.

This concept just makes no sense at all to me.

Spend more to save a few dollars or shop smart and save hundreds! You choose!!!

Getting Ready for my first ever yard sale

and boy is it a lot of work. I didn't know it would be so much work and organizing. Wow! But I do have to admit that I am rather enjoying it.

I am going through everything and setting things aside that I no longer use or want and if they are in good shape they go in the yard sale and if not they go in the trash.

I have gone through most of Carissa's drawers and closet as well as mine. But I am still going about it. I use to sort through our stuff 2 times a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall but since my back and leg have been out and since my spine surgeries I have not done very much decluttering sad to say but so true. I am moving slow but still moving,Carissa is a great help and John and the boys will do something if I ask them to.

All in all I'm hoping to make enough money to set it aside for school clothing and to boot I will be decluttered and what doesn't sell will go to charity. A win on all sides!!!

My grocery trip yesterday....

went really well. I do have to admit that it was a bit overwhelming to buy for a whole month at a time but I'm sure that the more I do it the easier it will be. But the really cool news is that I was able to shop for the whole month and I saved so much money so far. I was really surprised, I thought going into this adventure that I would be spending more. But I didn't. I couldn't believe how much more of our grocery budget I have left for the month.

I set our new grocery budget at 500.00 it was previously 600.00. I wasn't sure how I was going to keep it at 500.00 when I had a hard time keeping it at 600.00,but to my surprise I have been able to do and still have a little leftover. It has taken a lot of diligent work,keeping track of what I have on hand at all times to make meals from and that meant keeping my inventory sheets up to date and current,keeping a menu and using what I have on hand to make a menu,using leftovers as much as possible. All these things have helped me keep our grocery budget under our monthly goal. But to do this for a whole month that was a whole new thing for me and I wasn't sure how it was going to go.

But I went on as I normally do making my menu one meal at a time. I do have to admit it was harder than I thought to come up with a months worth of meals in one sitting. Once I had it the grocery list was the next challenge,it wasn't difficult the only thing was making sure I had enough of the little things like butter,salt,pepper and other spices for cooking/baking. But I think over all I did ok. I'm sure there will be things I forgot as this is my first time doing this and it's a learning curve for me.

I may or may not continue to shop this way always we will have to wait and see about that. But so far it was not as bad as I thought it would be. And to boot I have 302.00 left of our month grocery budget of 500.00!!! wooohooo!!!!

God Bless,

Going Shopping

My goal this month is to make a menu out for a month and then make a grocery list with it. So I sat down yesterday with paper and pen in hand,a printable monthly menu calendar and my inventory list.

Remember I shop at home first so that's where I started. Making as many meals as I could from home first then adding stuff that I didn't have to my list. I did really well as I am stocked up very well. I actually only needed to add a few freezer items to my grocery list for the whole month. The rest came from my freezer stock. I was happy at the end to have 1 pork loin,1 whole chicken,1 package of chicken thighs and drumsticks,and one bag of skinless boneless chicken breast left for next month.

If this works well for me I could cut my shopping trips down tremendously and with our given financial situation (that I will talk about more at a later date) it is a very good thing for us. Now I know I will have to go a couple times to get milk,eggs and fresh fruits and vegetables but the bulk of my shopping Lord willing with be done in one trip. Just think of all the time I will have to do something I have been wanting to do for a while like practice sewing. Yes I know shame on me I'm well into my 30's and I can't sew,well not very well anyway. But I'm learning and that's the important thing. Ok back on topic,I was able to with my menu in hand schedule in 3 times a month for our family to go out to dinner. Twice to a sit down restaurant and once to a fast food joint. This way we are not going over board but still not going cold turkey so to speak.

With any luck I will be successful with this goal and save my family more money that we can put toward something else like vacation money or home improvements.

God Bless,

The Happy Housewife on the news!!!

You have to read her interview she did a great job. I know you have all heard me talk about The Happy Housewife from the www.thehappyhousewife.com well abc interviewed her about her frugal lifestyle. It's a great article! Great Job Toni!!!!

To read her interview click here. The Happy Housewife Interview


God Bless,

,

Swag Bucks

Scroll to the bottom of my blog and you will see this..... You can now search the internet right here on my blog from the new swagbox. You can also sign up for swagbucks right there as well by clicking the sign up icon.

What is swag bucks you ask? It's a search engine that you can earn swag bucks and that you can then turn in for prizes or gift cards for things like amazon and others. It's a great way to earn a little extra income to help out with things like birthday gifts or even christmast if you wanted to. I am going to save my bucks and Lord willing use them for Christmas this year.

Take a look,use it to search the internet,or sign up if you like. It's free and it's very easy.

God Bless,

Frugal Friday!

Join hotdog on a stick for a free hotdog June 15th from 5 - 8 pm,only one per person.

Freebies!

I'm a fan of getting something for free. I love getting samples and trying new products and getting coupons for those samples are just awesome. I found a website that post free offers daily,the list is updated every 24 hours so your not looking at the same old stuff over and over again. It's pretty darn neat!

http://www.shop4freebies.com/

God Bless,
Tammy

I have been doing GREAT!

One of my goals for saving money and living frugally was to get a cap on our grocery bill. I was spending from 170.00 to 215.00 a week on groceries for our household. Now this did include household items and pet supplies but still it was much much to high and it was my goal to get it down.

So I thought I'll go a little at a time. I thought I'll get it to 150.00 a week, this was the budget that I was planning on anyway and I was over this each week. So I thought this was a good place to start. I had no plans to go any lower as I thought this was a good limit for my family of 5,2 dogs and a cat. Thinking that was fair and that I could swing this easily.

Well now lets fast forward a month and a half and I'm proud to tell ya'll that I have met that goal. As a matter of fact I met that goal and well I thought why not keep going. I wanted to see how low I could get that grocery budget without going to tight. Now I am going to tell you I am far from perfect with this and I'm still getting the hang of all this but I'm really doing well.

I have surprised myself with how well I am doing. For the past 3 weeks I have spent less than 100.00 dollars for all that we need here. Now given that I am well stocked here at home. I buy things when they are the lowest I can get them for and if I have coupons to go with that oh so sweet deal that makes that deal even sweeter!!!!

Stocking up this way,we have stocked up on meat for our deep freeze,can foods,boxed foods,dish detergents,shampoos,deodorants,mouth wash,toothpaste,soap,ect. You get the picture! I find that stocking up this way is saving us hundreds of dollars.

Why didn't I get the hang of this a long time ago! All the money we could have saved!!!! Well no sense in crying over spilt milk,just pick up and move on with my new sense of empowerment as I stock my shelves with rock bottom sale items! Just the thought of it makes me happy and want to jump for joy (if I could actually jump ).

I'll close this for now with thoughts of rock bottom line sale prices dancing in my head!!!! Oh how I love saving money.

God Bless,
Tammy

Guess what we got in the mail yesterday

John ran to check the mail yesterday evening and told me we got a notice from Capital One about our credit card. As many of you know we are paying off our cards and car loan and want to become and live debt free. Well this notice we received yesterday was a shock to me.

It states that penalty rate on their cards meaning if you are late on your payment three or more days two times within any 12 month billing period you will be socked with this penalty rate that is A LOT higher than your normal APR.

Then it goes on to talk about the penalty rate amount your going be as shocked as I was when I read this one here goes....... 29.4% WHEW!

Now as you read on they give you two choices,except these terms or call and decline these changes and they will close your account. But you still pay off your balance they just can't sock a rate increase to your account.

Where I was irritated with them because we are not late on any of our payments and once we payed it off to a zero balance we were going to close the account anyway so that's ok. So then last night John read online about the new bill congress passed.

If you would like to read about this bill click here Credit Card Bill. This just affirms to me that we are making the right choice by getting out debt,not acquiring any new debt and living below our means.

God Bless,
Tammy

How Has The Current Economy.....

How has the poor economy effected you? What have you done to accommodate the poor economy? Trying to get out of debt as quickly as you can? Have you seen that since the downturn in the economy you have gotten into more debt? What changes have you made to your and your families lifestyle during this downturn in the economy? Or does it not effect you at all? Let us know!

I'm looking forward to see what ya'll are doing during these hard times.


God Bless,
Tammy

Savings at the grocery store

Well all in all I did pretty well this morning. It took me a while to get it all organized and that was a little irritating to me but once I got it all down it went smoothly.

So for today my savings were........

MFG Coupons - 40.10
Bonus Coupons- 3.00
Kroger Savings-82.20
Total Savings - 125.30

I'm happy with that! And I did a big stock up trip. My total was more than I would have liked it to be but I hadn't gone grocery shopping in a few weeks and was low many things. So what I needed to get was added to my stock shopping adding to the total. But I did shop for what was on sale even for the things I had to get. When I made my way to the check out I had 2 carts full.

God Bless,
Tammy

The Grocery Game

Since reading her book, I decided to give The Grocery Game a shot. That means that I will be moving my shopping day to Tuesday mornings instead of Monday's. I'm anxious to see how much this will save us. I do a lot of stocking up shopping as it is now so I'm curious to see if this will bring our spending down even more while increasing out stock.

Time will tell!

God Bless,
Tammy

The Grocery Game Book

I just purchased Teri's book Shop Smart Save More from Amazon and I can't wait to get it. In it she reveals her secrets to saving tons of money and learning the secrets of the grocery store. She tells us step by step how she does it. And the book was only 10.39 plus shipping.

Here's the link take a look for yourself.

http://www.thegrocerygame.com/con_Shop_Smart_Save_More_Book.cfm

God Bless,
Tammy

I stocked up a bit this week

When John and I went shopping this week I took advantage of the sales at Kroger and stocked up on some meat items and can items. All in all I was only $10.00 over our budget of 150.00 a week for groceries. I was pleased. I saved almost 61.00 in coupon and Kroger savings. I'm really getting into this whole coupon thing. LOL I love watching the amount fall and owing so much less when I have to pay.

So now my pantry is nice and stocked with lots of veggies and can foods. The freezer is getting there too. Just the way I like it. A few more good sales and it should be well stocked as well.

Do you use coupons to help cut cost? Do you do pretty well?

One thing I noticed lately is that in our area there are now more coupons in the Sunday's paper than there normally is. I even noticed a new coupon provider in there this past Sunday. I hope this is a regular thing. That on top of getting coupons loaded to my Kroger card from
http://pgesaver.com and www.shortcuts.com I am able to stack my coupons to get the most off my grocery total.

If you are not a coupon user I urge you to give it a try. Start small and slow and soon you will get the handle on it and you'll be surprised of how much you can really save if you are a careful shopper.

God Bless,
Tammy

Budget and menu planning Thursday

Each and every one of us has the day that we balance the books and work on our menu for the following week with shopping list following. My day for this is Thursday. It's the day before my husband gets paid so it I make sure that everything balances out before the new pay enters. I also make a plan for the upcoming week as to how we will be spending and such.

I set out any bills that need to be paid with that weeks pay along with envelopes,stamps and address labels. That way I have it all ready to go when they need to.

I also make up our menu for our meals for the following week this day because I have been doing our shopping on Friday mornings. This works best for us as our weekends are so busy. Once I get the menu made up I start on our shopping list. I try to keep a running list of things we are running out of or that we or someone needs,like toothpaste,deodorant,medication,ect. When someone notices that we or they are running low on something it's added to the running list. When I am making up the main grocery list I add those items that we are needing. That way I'm not running back out to get what we forgot and can't wait until next week.

Once I have the list made up I make sure it's not going to go over budget by adding the prices to make sure I stay on budget. I do this because I have the prices of the things I frequently buy. If it's something I'm not sure of I look it up and get a good sound idea of what it's going to cost and add that.

It's important to stay on budget as much as you can,especially if you have plans or are saving up for something. We have set our budget as low as we can and all of our expenses are subtracted from that amount. That way we are staying focused on our future goals and not living beyond our means. It's not easy but it can be done. Anything over the amount that we have set is saved. Right now we are using that to buy Christmas gifts. So we are not using credit to purchase. After the holidays we will save it. We are still working on the house so that amount will be used on the house to complete it,again working as we go so not to go into debt.

God Bless,

How we eat well on $35/week

This article came from Crystal at www.moneysavingsmom.com and she also has another site www.biblicalwomanhood.com.

Dear Friends,

As some of you know, we currently have a $35/week grocery budget. Often when people hear that, they immediately think we must subsist on Ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese.

Contrary to what some think, we actually eat really well on that budget and we've done so consistently for four years.
And yes, the $35 includes toiletries, laundry soap, cleaners, diapers, medicine, etc. It covers breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all three of us for a week, other than the one meal a week we eat out. I can actually do it for less than $35, but that allotment gives us enough room to be able to purchase more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, some organic food, and farm-fresh hormone-free milk and eggs.

Here are just a few basic things which have helped us to eat well on a small budget:

1. Plan a menu around what you have on hand and the store sales and stick to it.

The most important step in lowering your grocery budget is having a plan and keeping it. Second of all, don't just plan a menu, go through your cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer and use those as the basis for your menu. Start with what you have and creatively use that before you buy anything extra. Thirdly, check your store fliers (you can usually do this online) and see what is on a good sale and plan your menu around that, as well.

2. Shop at more than one store.

Unless you live somewhere where you only have one store to shop at, don't do all your shopping in one location. I try to hit two-three stores each week buying just the best deals from each. I almost always hit Kroger - as I have found them to consistently have the best loss-leaders and I love their double-coupon policy. Plus, they often have Catalina deals (where when you buy 2 or 4 of a certain item, you get $x off your next shopping order). I usually always go to CVS, as well (more on that in a minute), and then, if I have a few staple ingredients I need to get or the deals are rather weak or my cupboard is rather bare, I'll hit Aldi. It varies from week-to-week depending upon what the sales are.

3. When something is on a good sale (for me, that means combining the sale with coupons it is free, close to free, or something we use often and the price is considerably cheaper than the Aldi price), stock up.

To give you an example of how this works, this past week, combining coupons with store sales, I got the Cottonelle for Kids toilet paper for $0.50 per 4-pack. This is half the Aldi price, and the rolls are twice the size. Obviously, since toilet paper is something we use around here on a regular basis, I stocked up and bought eight 4-packs. The deal will still be good this next week and each package has a coupon inside, so I'll probably get at least eight more on my next shopping trip. I'm guessing this will last us for the next 6-8 months, at least - probably longer.

Instead of buying the cheap Aldi toilet paper when we were almost out and spending $1 each time, I bought higher quality toilet paper with twice as much on the roll, for half the price. So, in essence, I got it for 75% off the Aldi price. This is it works. By stocking up ahead of time, you stretch your grocery dollars much farther.

4. If you have a CVS nearby, become a regular customer.

By regularly shopping the ECB deals there and using their store coupons, $4 off $20 or similar coupons which often print, and stacking these with manufacturer's coupons, I rarely ever pay for toiletries or household items. This is how we paid for all disposable diapers we bought - using the overage earned from the ECB deals. Read more about CVS shopping strategies here:
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/2007/09/cvs-101.html

5. Use a calculator and pay with cash.

I bring $35 a week in cash to the store with me and no extra. No checkbook, no debit card, nothing else. This is one of the most helpful ways I guarantee that I stay within budget. As I add items off my list to to my cart, I add them to my running total on my calculator. By adding it up as I shop, I'm able to know exactly how much I've spent so far and whether or not I have extra to buy some items which are reduced for quick sale.

Those are some very practical ways to save while shopping. Some other things we do:

-Cut back on meat. We rarely have meat by itself as the main dish (steak, roast, fried chicken, etc.)

-Drink water (We use a Brita pitcher to filter our water - I got this free with ECBs from CVS.) We do not drink milk or soda (pop, coke, or whatever you call it where you live). We drink fresh juice made in our juicer a few mornings a week and iced tea or herbal tea on occasion.

-Find out when your local stores reduce their meat and produce and shop at those times. This is how I buy the majority of our meat and vegetables. The prices are usually reduced at least 50% - sometimes even more like 75-90%!

-Cook from scratch. Eliminating processed foods and boxed mixes from your diet is not only more healthful for you, it will also save you a lot of money. Make your own baked oatmeal or granola instead of buying boxed cereal. Keep homemade cookies and muffins made up and in the freezer for snacks instead of store bought cookies or chips. Bake your own bread. Make cakes, pancakes, and so on from scratch.

-Grow your own veggies and herbs in the Summer. Or, shop at your local Farmer's Market. Be careful that you know your prices going in, though, as I've found some of the prices at certain booths to be much more than I would pay at the grocery store. Scout out the whole place before you decide what to buy and make sure you are getting a good price. Sometimes there is a huge variance of price between booths.

-Don't be brand-dependent. If you really want to cut your grocery budget, you have to learn to branch out and try new things.

-Keep it simple. Stick to recipes with fewer, inexpensive ingredients.

-Most of all, enjoy the journey! I have so much fun saving money on groceries and seeing God bless and multiply our little budget to feed, not only our family, but to have extras to give away!

There is so much more I could say on this, but that's just a quick overview on some things which have helped us. For much more detailed information and help, I highly recommend you check out my ecourse, Supermarket Savings 101:
http://www.biblicalwomanhood.com/supermarket.htm

=========================

As I mentioned above, one way we save a lot of money on groceries is by making things from scratch. Not only is it less expensive, but it also is better for you and tastes yummy, too!

Baked oatmeal one of our very favorite breakfast recipes. It makes a big pan so we refrigerate the leftovers and use it for the following few days’ breakfasts! Just reheat in the microwave or oven. We often just spoon out in individual bowls and reheat in the microwave. Be sure to top with butter, brown sugar, and milk. Delicious!

Baked Oatmeal

1 cup oil (can substitute butter or applesauce)
1 ½ cups sugar (can reduce)
4 eggs
6 cups oats
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups milk

Combine all ingredients in order listed. Pour into greased 9x13-inch pan. Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned. Can refrigerate overnight before baking. Serve topped with butter, brown sugar, and milk.

Yields: Approximately 8-12 servings

Frugal Blogs!

I got this list from a group I belonged to a while back and have enjoyed these blogs. They have some great ideas some old some new to help stretch the budget. I hope you take some time and visit a few of them.

http://pennypinscher.blogspot.com/
http://www.goodyblog.com/
http://www.imommies.com/
http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/
http://www.simplythrifty.com/
http://WWW.wastedfood.Com/about/
http://beingfrugal.net/about/
http://allthingsfrugal.blogspot.com/
http://frugalhacks.com/
http://frugalforlife.com/

God Bless,
Tammy